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Sunday, November 06, 2011

Travel,Itinerancy and Sentinelles

First of all some exciting news for my eldest daughter- she has been studying this year at Brighton Bay School of Art Design and Photography- their presentation night was last Friday and she won an Award for Excellence and the Ceramics Award- I was so proud of Celeste- she has worked very hard- a 2 hour journey every morning and every night with a transport system that has many failings- so four hours of travelling before she even got to school and then a very intense program which has seen her produce some wonderful pieces- it will put a fillip in her step and give her choices which were not possible before she started this course.Simply said, country high schools do not have the means or the access for students to create folios to compete against more intensely taught students with greater access to short courses, galleries and other fine art options( this is also true for some city students)- so this year 13 option really creates the opportunity for young people to develop their folios and to find their strengths and weaknesses. Who knew my daughter had "clay hands" as her teacher called it- and yet her other skills I knew about but the year has helped her fine tune them.

I am trying to work like the fury- have set myself a schedule which part of me keeps saying "you can't do this" but which the other part of me says "It has to be done, you can do it, if you simply work like the fury". So I have been rewriting my statement regarding the sentinelles ( I did rework it the week before last but as I was working on a school computer I forgot to save it) I have worked on creating and finishing a new ochre one and then a earth coloured one has fallen out of my hands in the past week and then a lace one is being conjured up out of the stencil which has acquired such an interesting patina from all the different printings I have done with it. They must be made and I only have two weeks to go until I go overseas.

My catalogue has to be done this week so I can get it to the printer in time- which means Thursday is my deadline.I am trying to bridge the gap between mere descriptive material to a more lyrical rendition of what I am trying to do with these sentinelles- it's almost like I need to dream on words every night for new words in the morning- but the mornings are starting to run out. And sometimes I look at the sentinelles and think do they work- are they really what I wanted to do- but when they hang together they are strong, and they do speak. The doing has been interesting to- how to reinvent a shape that is essentially the same into an individual and distinctive form.

And then I am thinking about the travel- various places in Europe- I do want to make a new travellers blanket for this journey- as it will be in the winter and the light is so different in the North. The Sentinelles have already done some travel and they are destined for more- in some way they are quite static in appearance but their movement is anything but- they are the caravan for my idea about land and connectedness- about a mystical relationship with the earth- I have a need to always grow something- at the moment it is just herbs and some tomatoes in pots but I can't imagine not growing something.Lots of food for procrastination but I have to make sense of it all by Thursday!Hmmm more thinking and I have to go- a bobbin's worth of sewing before I do anything else. I read this morning Rima's blog Into the Hermitage- as always interesting thought provoking writing- about the Romany/Gypsies and their travelling- well worth visiting- make sure you have a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy.

And as I seem to be on the theme of travelling/travels a collage I made of an old steam tractor that was in the gardens of the cottages we stayed in in Bright- the weekend before last. I marvelled at how sturdily this machine had been built and even though rust encrusted it's body there it still stands sentinel to a time gone forever- another connection with the earth.

I will be starting the new Travellers' Blanket On-Line Class on 19 November. If you are interested there is some information on my previous blog post. I will be starting a new blanket to accompany me on my journey to the North.

Musing in Textile: France

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About Me

I am a Textile Artist and itinerant at the moment.My base at present is in Geelong though I teach around the world.I love to dye and print fabrics and assemble them into quilts with lots of stitching both by hand and machine.I also create my own linocuts for printing on fabric.